---
lang: en
---

# Languages

Your team reads and writes in one language, and your Help Center can be added in more: Cactus translates its pages, topic names and widget words into each language you add.

> Verified against the product on 2026-11-15

## Your team's language

Your team's language is the one you read and write in, and it starts as English.

1. In [Settings › Languages](https://app.heycactus.ai/settings/languages), choose **Your team's language** from the list, which saves at once.

Each language appears in its own name, with its English name beside it where the two differ.

## Translate conversations

In [Settings › Languages](https://app.heycactus.ai/settings/languages), turn Translate conversations on or off. It is on until someone on your team turns it off.

When it is on, your team reads every customer message in your team's language, with the original one click away, and your replies reach each customer in their own language. Translation comes with every plan at no extra cost.

> **Note:** When it is off, no message is translated. A message that cannot be translated reaches your team as the customer wrote it.

## Help Center languages

Your Help Center is written in English. You can add French, Japanese or Arabic, the languages Cactus has its own words in.

1. In [Settings › Languages](https://app.heycactus.ai/settings/languages), open Add a language and pick one.
2. Select **Add** in the dialog. The dialog says Cactus translates your pages and releases into that language now, and keeps them in step with every change.

The language is live at once at your help site's address with its code in front, such as `/fr`.

Languages you have not added show under the list as coming soon.

> **Note:** Until a language's pages are translated, the rest read in English, marked as English.

## Remove a language

In [Settings › Languages](https://app.heycactus.ai/settings/languages), select **Remove** beside the language. A dialog asks whether to remove it and says its pages come off your Help Center now. Select **Remove** in the dialog to confirm.

## While a language fills

Each added language shows its progress under its name: how many pages are translated, and how many releases when there are any. The count refreshes every ten seconds while a language is still filling.

## Address readers as

For French and Japanese, the **Address readers as** menu under the language sets how its text addresses readers.

| Language | Choices, default first |
| --- | --- |
| French | **vous**, or **tu** |
| Japanese | **です・ます**, or **だ・である** |

## Words and notes for the translator

| Box | What goes in it | Limit |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Words to keep in English** | One product or feature name per line, which stays in English | 100 words of up to 60 characters |
| **Your wording** | One term per line, as `English term = how you write it`; a line without `=` is refused | 200 terms per language |
| **Note to your translator** | Anything a translator should know about your product or customers | 600 characters |

Switches save as soon as you change them. Each text box saves when you leave it, and only when its text has changed.

## If a page is still in English

| What you see | What it means | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| "_n_ not translated yet: the last try failed" | A page or release could not be translated | Open the line to read each title and its reason |
| A page marked as English on your help site | Its translation is still owed | Wait; the progress line shows how many pages are done |